Mexico Supreme Court Overturns Controversial Security Law

Washington, DC—In response to the Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Internal Security Law on the basis on going against the country’s constitution, Maureen Meyer, WOLA Director for Mexico and Migrant Rights at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), issued the following statement:

“This Supreme Court ruling is one of the most important of recent years: it’s an acknowledgement that civil institutions are responsible for providing security to a country’s citizens, and that the military is not a police force. Soldiers should not be used as a substitute for police and Mexico’s armed forces shouldn’t be in charge of the country’s domestic security. This law would have cemented the military’s role in patrolling the streets and would have granted them broad power over civil institutions.

“In this context, President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposal to create a National Guard is concerning in that it insists on using the military in public security tasks. The military should never be leading civil institutions, and nor should use of the military be prioritized over that of police, as this leads to greater human rights violations. It’s long past time for a new strategy that doesn’t put public security under military command, and which prioritizes the strengthening of Mexico’s civil security forces.”

See WOLA’s resources on the Internal Security Law:

A report documenting the high rate of impunity for human rights abuses committed by the Mexican military.